This invention relates to rack mounted electronic equipment and more particularly to a frameless cabinet system that is comprised of a plurality of stackable wall members that mechanically interconnect with minimal labor content to assemble the resultant cabinet.
It is a problem in the field of rack mounted electronic equipment to provide a cabinet system that is adaptable, inexpensive and can be assembled with minimal labor. Typical cabinet systems comprise an integral frame that supports the exterior finish panels of the cabinet housing. The frame provides both the rigidity of the cabinet as well as the rack mounted equipment mounting sites. A difficulty with such a cabinet system is that the cabinet is typically shipped in assembled form due to the integral frame, thereby incurring increased shipping costs. Furthermore, the cabinet is of fixed dimensions and cannot be easily adapted for other equipment configurations or external finish requirements. Finally, it is common for each cabinet-equipment configuration to be individually certified, thereby increasing the cost and time required for development and production of equipment.
The above-described problems are solved and a technical advance achieved by the present frameless, stackable cabinet system for use with rack mounted electronic equipment. This cabinet system comprises stackable wall members that mechanically interconnect without the need for tools to assemble the cabinet. A base unit and cover unit provide the interlocking top and bottom members of the cabinet. The stackable wall members come in various heights and can be interlocked together and to both the base unit and cover unit to configure a cabinet of desired height. Each stackable wall member therefore not only provides a mounting site for a rack mounted piece of electronic equipment, but also serves to provide the wiring channels through openings formed in the stackable wall members. The cabinet system can be transported in a disassembled form to reduce shipping costs and can be simply assembled on site via the interlocking interconnection of the stackable wall members. The resultant cabinet can be reconfigured without a significant effort and the certification of the resultant cabinet configuration can be simplified.